big surprise, more rust repair
 

Looks like I'm overdue for an update. I finished up the inner cowl, and moved on to starting the DSE rear suspension install. I'm still waiting for my rear axle, but I have the suspension brackets. I started to make the holes for the upper link brackets and realized I have more patch work to make. Below are some pics of that project, too.

I've about used up my old passenger door skin in making patch panels. Time to get more sheet metal. I'm sure I'll need it somewhere...

After patching the floors, I bolted the brackets on but they are not parallel to one another . One sits .25" forward of the other. (I installed the arms and placed a rod through them and measured them to the front of the car. I get a .25" discrepancy.) I'm going to wait until I get my axle so I can remeasure, confirm the location of the brackets and adjust as needed.

DSE panhard bar cover install- I mean more rust repair
 

Since I'm temporarily on hold for the upper 4 link brackets this weekend I thought I might install the panhard bar cover. I started by removing some of the old trunk floor. That revealed more rust that the chemical dipping didn't catch. Upon more inspection I figured I should split the triangular shaped pocket of metal that I'll otherwise probably never be able to access. Now is the time to get in there and paint it with some rust encapsulator paint. As I split it open I'm glad I made this choice. It's rather crusty in there.

After cleaning it out as best I could and letting it sit overnight with some rust dissolver today I painted it and welded it back shut. After that I measured the location of the panhard cover and placed it. Now, the instructions call out to make a bracket to cover the driver side gap between the frame rail and the cover. they don't supply a bracket here. I thought it would be better to make as much reinforcement with this bracket as possible, so I made a long one that ties into the frame rail and can be plug welded on the side of the rail.

Below are pics of this.

After completion of this part, I had my neighbor weld it as my welder isn't powerful enough to weld these parts together. It fits like a glove. I haven't welded it to the car yet as I want to make sure the passenger side fits properly, too. I'm not happy with how the panhard bracket itself currently fits. It doesn't fit like the instructions state it should. It'll require more trimming, but that will have to wait for another weekend.

Forgot to attach this pic- it's of the interior floor with a coat of rust encapsulator paint on it.

Looking good :thumbsup:

trunk panel fab
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update. Last weekend I worked more on my friend's firebird than mine, so about all I got done was to fabricate a simple sheet metal patch panel that goes in front of the DSE crossmember.

Since I don't have any fancy metal brakes, etc, I had to make this the old fashioned way- hammer the folds and hammer the compound raised areas. I used my welding tank cover for a nice large radius as well as some square stock and clamps to make my 90º bend. It did stretch the metal a bit so I had to use some weight to level it out.

I went to install said panel on Friday and noticed that my DSE crossmember sits crooked in my car. I discovered it when I was trying to align my panel for tack welding in place. Upon closer inspection I see that the crossmember is assymetrical with approx 3/8" more metal (height) on the passenger side. Now the instructions say this part should sit level, so this must mean the frame rails are not symmetrical from side to side. Strange. I didn't like how the panel sat high to the right (it would become more obvious as I weld my sheet metal trunk panels to it) so I trimmed it to sit level in my car.

baby got back
 

Following the small panel install I decided to start chopping the back of the car off for the trunk floor and tail panel replacement. I made some decent progress, imo, as the tail panel is roughly trimmed and could be tacked in place. I think. Before I do that I want to make sure the inner panel fits and everything looks square. I also need some paint for the inner frame rails. I would use some rust encapsulator and tried to order some, but I was just informed as of Aug 1st the Eastwood co. can no longer sell that to residents in CA. @#$$%!!! I'll keep my political comments to myself. I'll have to see what else I can get in its place.

I used some square stock to brace what's left of the car while I chopped the tail off, and I repaired some of the frame rail ends to reinforce them as they were pretty much rusted away.

Good looking progress :thumbsup: Keep the pics coming :cheers:

Thank you! OK, will add more pics below....

This weekend I worked on welding in the middle trunk panel as well as the tail panel. I did my best to align it, and, of course, the panel only fits so well, so I spent some time revising the weatherstripping channels to make them align again.

I also plan on a little customization to the car, and with that requires the removal of the upper half of the tail light panel. I plan to recess it in an inch or 2. I realize it seems like more work to install it and then rip it apart, but I wanted to make sure the panel was installed and fitted before cutting the panel up. Hopefully I can get it back together again.

oooohhhh yeahhhhhh
 

"doo baum baum. (whisper) chicka chickahhh..."

If you say that right, you'll get it. The pics speak for themselves. This showed up today.

Did you order the rear straight from Moser with the Quadralink brackets installed or did you get this set up by someone else?

Great build!